Yes, it's what it sounds like.

July 19, 2010 10:37 PM

Amanda Palmer releases Ukelelehead Amanda Palmer Performs The Popular Hits of Radiohead on Her Magical Ukulele. There will be a live webcast at Party On The Internet on July 20th, 6PM Eastern Time. Read about the background of the album here.
posted by boo_radley (44 comments total)

In all sincerity, can someone point me to a definitive YouTube video or mp3 of her performing style? Someone sent me a video that I found underwhelming, and I hear a lot about her, but the only other videos I've been able to find involve her playing kind of...well, awkwardly, and as someone who's fond of playing the ukulele I have to imagine I've just not been exposed properly to whatever it is she does well.
posted by davejay at 10:41 PM on July 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

Oh, I forgot a link: Palmer announces the project on Australian TV.
posted by boo_radley at 10:42 PM on July 19, 2010

In all sincerity, can someone point me to a definitive YouTube video or mp3 of her performing style? Someone sent me a video that I found underwhelming, and I hear a lot about her, but the only other videos I've been able to find involve her playing kind of...well, awkwardly, and as someone who's fond of playing the ukulele I have to imagine I've just not been exposed properly to whatever it is she does well.

Now, I don't know a lot about the ukulele, but, and I say this as a pretty enthusiastic Amanda Palmer fan, I don't think the ukulele is really her greatest strength. Of course, I also don't think covering Radiohead is her greatest strength. Honestly, I don't think covering Radiohead is Radiohead's greatest strength, so I might be biased toward "meh" on this one.

I hope her next project is an actual Amanda Palmer and/or Dresden Dolls project, instead of an Evelyn Evelyn project (and I say that as a fan of Jason Webley, too) or a covers of a band I don't like project.
posted by Caduceus at 10:47 PM on July 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

I imagine if one were both an Amanda Palmer fan and a Radiohead fan, this would be pretty fucking cool. I don't mean to threadshit, I'm just underwhelmed personally.
posted by Caduceus at 10:48 PM on July 19, 2010

Please do make it past the hooting and hollering in this video to about 2:00 or so. You pretty much get the post-Dresden Dolls ukelele playing Amanda Palmer there, I think.

You're not going to see her playing the song straight through, but you will see her heavily interacting with the crowd. Feedback loop.
posted by condiments at 10:53 PM on July 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

I think I saw a webcam of her performing Just Walk Away Renee, originally by the Left Banke, and as I recall, I liked it.
posted by StickyCarpet at 10:53 PM on July 19, 2010

I finally got a chance to listen to Evelyn Evelyn (translation: I thought to check spotify for it and there it was!) and I loved the little tiny hells out of it and now I don't know what to think about the controversy.

And yeah, I really like Amanda Palmer and will definitely listen to this, but the ukulele is not her strongest instrument, by a long way.

davejay, I suck at searching for youtube playlists, but you could do worse than start here and look for other videos of her doing songs off her own albums (she does a lot of covers live, and they tend to swamp youtube). The music videos are pretty ace too.
posted by ArmyOfKittens at 11:05 PM on July 19, 2010

I'm just underwhelmed personally

Maybe you should go over to the internet dating thread and let people there know.

Personally, I like any sort of genre-busting. I put Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain into Pandora and got back a folked-up version of Billy Idol's White Wedding by The Whip. Very cool and eerie.
posted by Jimmy Havok at 11:17 PM on July 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

So awesome.
posted by EatTheWeak at 11:18 PM on July 19, 2010

Maybe you should go over to the internet dating thread and let people there know.

Bad move, Havok. Better not express dislike for anything in any thread ever again, because I'll be there.
posted by Caduceus at 11:27 PM on July 19, 2010 [7 favorites]

folked-up version of Billy Idol's White Wedding by The Whip.

1. I know him and have played shows with him. It's Whip, not The Whip.
2. Weirdly, he's not the only one who has done a folked-up version of that song.
3. I don't really care about ukulele, Amanda Palmer, or Radiohead, but I like Whip, so I thought I'd say all the above.

Carry on.
posted by sleepy pete at 11:43 PM on July 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

Gotta agree with the haters. Dresden Dolls were one of the first bands I was really into. I've always liked Amanda Palmer -- and I used to be pretty partial to Radiohead -- but her playing the ukelele and singing, while pleasant, just completely fails to excite me. I remember her putting on several of the best live shows I've ever been too, and I always loved her irreverent covers. But watching her sing "Karma Police"... nah. Call me when it's got drums in it!
posted by zvs at 12:01 AM on July 20, 2010

That's MetaFilter's Own ^TM Amanda Palmer, thank you!
posted by UbuRoivas at 12:21 AM on July 20, 2010 [3 favorites]

The Dresden Dolls' cover of War Pigs is pretty good.
posted by empath at 12:22 AM on July 20, 2010

because I'll be there

I'm underwhelmed, personally.

It's Whip, not The Whip

Thanks. Pandora lists it as by The Whip. I had to burn some skips to find it, since none of my search terms came up with anything. I'm gonna have to buy it, I think.
posted by Jimmy Havok at 12:37 AM on July 20, 2010

I hope her next project is an actual Amanda Palmer and/or Dresden Dolls project

I'm pretty sure the Dresden Dolls are dead as of Amanda and Brian breaking up.
posted by Pope Guilty at 1:02 AM on July 20, 2010

That's MetaFilter's Own TM Amanda Palmer, thank you!

Maybe when she gets to five comments she can write a song about it.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 2:04 AM on July 20, 2010 [1 favorite]

In other Radiohead news, Radiohead drummer Phil Selway has a solo record coming out!

Phil Selway is a wonderful human being. He still volunteers as a listener for The Samaritans, a UK charity that provides confidential emotional support 24/7 to those experiencing despair, distress or suicidal feelings
posted by Cantdosleepy at 2:38 AM on July 20, 2010 [6 favorites]

Not just anyone can play ukulele.
posted by Stan Carey at 3:20 AM on July 20, 2010 [2 favorites]

Obligatory linkage both links NSFW
posted by pxe2000 at 4:07 AM on July 20, 2010

Ohhh, as both a Radiohead fan and a Ukelele fan I was so hoping this to be good. But it did nothing.
posted by AzzaMcKazza at 4:47 AM on July 20, 2010

i don't get the 'omg! amanda palmer!' thing any more than i understand people going ga ga over she-who-shall-not-be-mentioned. although i prefer amanda palmer non threads to the other.
posted by msconduct at 5:19 AM on July 20, 2010

I'm learning Amanda Palmer over time. I found her, frankly, via Neil Gaiman who has proposed to her and been accepted. I'm a huge Gaiman fan and, if he likes Amanda (effing) Palmer, I figured... what the hell, worth a listen.

The Evelyn Evelyn stuff is fun, and her solo work (on keyboards) is interesting as well. I'm not really familiar with Radiohead, so I'm in no real rush to check this new stuff out.

But, to reparastate what someone said earlier, messing with genre and breaking musical taboo is a good thing. So, yay AFP says I.
posted by mmahaffie at 5:44 AM on July 20, 2010

I first glanced at this and thought it said 'Amanda Plummer'. I have to confess to being a little disappointed.
posted by JT at 5:59 AM on July 20, 2010

I found her, frankly, via Neil Gaiman who has proposed to her and been accepted.

I wonder if this is what sealed the deal?
posted by timsteil at 5:59 AM on July 20, 2010 [1 favorite]

In all sincerity, can someone point me to a definitive YouTube video or mp3 of her performing style?

I don't know if I'd call it definitive, but I found myself utterly charmed by 'Ga Ga, Palmer, Madonna'.
posted by Myca at 6:25 AM on July 20, 2010 [2 favorites]

Cthulkhelele.

That is all.
posted by Balisong at 7:01 AM on July 20, 2010 [1 favorite]

Damnit, timsteil!
posted by Balisong at 7:02 AM on July 20, 2010

I can't wait for this ukelele thing to play itself out. I mean, it's just like the bacon thing, right?
posted by rocket88 at 7:08 AM on July 20, 2010

does one post 2 years ago really make her "mefi's own"?
posted by djduckie at 7:09 AM on July 20, 2010

rocket88, have you heardtasted a bacolele? It's amazing.
posted by boo_radley at 7:10 AM on July 20, 2010 [1 favorite]

I'll just leave this here.
posted by Celsius1414 at 7:50 AM on July 20, 2010

I can't wait for this ukelele thing to play itself out.
This.
Please!
posted by Thorzdad at 7:53 AM on July 20, 2010 [2 favorites]

There's a piece on Gaiman and Palmer in the latest Coilhouse.
posted by homunculus at 8:46 AM on July 20, 2010

I hope this will not be my "three strikes, you're out" album for her. That would make me sad.
posted by adipocere at 9:24 AM on July 20, 2010

Thanks for the links, folks. My intent wasn't to seed hatred or anything; I just quite sincerely didn't get what all the fuss is about, and thought I'd missed something. Having watched the linked videos, I guess she's just not my cup 'o tea.

I can't wait for this ukelele thing to play itself out.

It's not going to happen for a while; every time I take up a new hobby thinking "oh, this isn't anything trendy that anyone would be interested in", it becomes trendy and doesn't stop until I get bored with it. But I'm not bored with the ukulele yet, although I'm bored with solo ukulele (including my own.)
posted by davejay at 9:42 AM on July 20, 2010

So based on the cover I take it she's now performing under the name A. Manda Palmer?
posted by Senor Cardgage at 9:48 AM on July 20, 2010

I don't know who this Amanda Palmer person is but the people at Buddyhead sure don't seem to care for her.
posted by anazgnos at 9:57 AM on July 20, 2010 [2 favorites]

FIX THAT FUCKING "A"!
posted by Senor Cardgage at 10:04 AM on July 20, 2010

Not to get on board with threadshitting, but Amanda Palmer's really lost me. I loved the Dresden Dolls, but in the time since her (very strong) solo album, things have seemed to really go downhill. I saw her live, last spring, I think, and the music was great but I swear to God she spent at least twenty-five minutes talking about Twitter and social networking. It was a real "?". Since then, it seems her ego has kind of gone off the deep end ("Amanda Fucking Palmer"? seriously?), she's launched all these weird but ultimately sort of uninteresting novelty projects (Evelyn Evelyn, Radiohead on ukulele), and she's responded very ungracefully to a number of online tussles. This has been, for me, a really dismaying case of the increasingly big persona of the artist getting in the way of her (once-?)excellent art.
posted by threeants at 11:15 AM on July 20, 2010 [3 favorites]

anazgnos: "I don't know who this Amanda Palmer person is but the people at Buddyhead sure don't seem to care for her."

From buddyhead:

I’m aware that there is a market for eccentric female singer-songwriters who have some sort of tenuous-at-best association with Trent Reznor, and now that Tori Amos has apparently gone feral and is currently wandering around the forests of northern Canada terrorizing small and mid-sized woodland creatures [citation needed]

Monitor-spit
posted by boo_radley at 11:42 AM on July 20, 2010

Frankly, I don't have that much direct knowledge of AFP aside from her impending Mrs. Neil Gaimanhood, but anytime the likes of the clowns at Buddyhead take umbrage at someone, I automatically like that someone a little better.
posted by Halloween Jack at 3:28 PM on July 20, 2010

I wanted to like this. =P Unfortunately, her interpretations take all the carefully staged drama out of Radiohead's hits. When Thom Yorke does those things with his voice, or sings a variation in a later verse, etc., he does it for a reason -- the songs are stories that are going somewhere, and the delivery matches the material.

Palmer has a pretty voice that superficially fits the material, but her delivery is static, it doesn't develop with the songs, and honestly I don't think she's offering much here. Ditto for the accompanying uke, which to my ear is lacking dynamic contrast and plays the same parts the same ways.

Anyway that's my interpretation of what is not working.
posted by grobstein at 6:36 PM on July 20, 2010 [1 favorite]

Amanda Palmer Starring In Special Production Of "Cabaret" This Fall
posted by homunculus at 12:38 AM on August 11, 2010